Continuous image scanning and data acquisition is used in current clinical applications, especially cardiac examination and treatment. Known image quality and acquisition improvement systems attempt to avoid problems involved in cardiac tissue movement, such as during depolarization and repolarization phases of a heart cycle. Some known systems involve use of surface ECG signals (R wave) and respiration signals to gate image acquisition to avoid patient movement noise and artifacts. Imaging of cardiac function is of value at the time of cardiac tissue contraction and during other functional phases. Known systems employ patient functional signals in image scanning and acquisition, such as imaging for Atrium contraction, imaging for ventricle maximum volume measurement and left ventricular artery function (e.g. LAD ischemia detection). Patient functional signals include body surface ECG signals, intra-cardiac electrograms (ICEG), hemodynamic signals (such as invasive and non-invasive blood pressures), and vital signals (such as respiration, blood oxygen saturation (SPO2)), for example. Cardiac function signals can identify an accurate time and heart cycle phase for image acquisition gating and synchronizing for capturing and characterizing cardiac functions and tissue activities. The use of cardiac function signals in imaging supports objective and accurate diagnosis and medical treatment.
Known image scanning and acquisition systems can continuously monitor a patient organ and tissue involving movement such as of blood flow in coronary arteries during injection of a contrast agent (dye) in a heart, for example. However, in known systems, an image scanning trigger is typically fixed and image acquisition consequently misses some important stages and times of cardiac function analysis due to the time between image acquisitions. Known systems fail to provide a comprehensive method of triggering image scanning and acquisition based on cardiac function signals, such as EP signals for chamber and tissue activity evaluation, Hemodynamic pressure signals for determination of maximum volume of ventricle and blood flow and respiration signals for artifact avoidance. Further, in known systems, during image continuous acquisition, the image resolution, scanning speed (rate) and sensitivity is not controllable after initiation of an image scanning procedure. Known continuous image scanning methods use imaging hardware inefficiently and acquire redundant images during a rest phase of the heart (without contraction activity), for example. Also known continuous image scanning methods increase patient radiation exposure. A system according to invention principles addresses these requirements and associated deficiencies and problems.